Medicaid, Faith-Healing Work Groups to Be Named Friday | Idaho Government and Politics | magicvalley.com

H/T::Breaking Their Will: Religious Child Abuse and Neglect

Idaho’s child-neglect laws currently exempt parents from prosecution if a child gets sick or dies when the parents are trying to treat them through faith healing. Boise Democrat John Gannon first introduced legislation in 2014 to modify the law in cases where serious injury or death could result, after the higher-than-normal number of child deaths among the faith-healing Followers of Christ denomination, which has some adherents in Idaho, hit the news. His bills haven’t gotten a hearing, with some Republicans saying they oppose changing the law on religious freedom grounds.

Medicaid, Faith-Healing Work Groups to Be Named Friday | Idaho Government and Politics | magicvalley.com

Police: Girl left in van for hours at state Rep. Harris' preschool

For those living under a rock, this is the fucktard that re-homed an adopted 5-year-old daughter to a man who later raped her.

A 3-year-old girl was left in a school van for several hours Wednesday at Growing God's Kingdom preschool in West Fork, the city's police chief said.

Police Chief Bryan Watts said the child was in the van from about 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., when police and an ambulance were called.

Watts said the child, who had been strapped into a car seat, wasn't injured. He said the girl was conscious and talked to paramedics when they arrived.

"We're very blessed that it was a little cooler today and the van was parked in the shade," Watts said. "If it had been much warmer, I don't think she would have survived it."

State Rep. Justin Harris, R-West Fork, co-owner of the preschool, said the "bus driver" didn't notice the child was still on the van after other children got off.

Harris said it was a cool, cloudy day, and the child's body temperature was 97 degrees when paramedics arrived.

"So thankful to God that it was a good day," he said.

Police: Girl left in van for hours at state Rep. Harris' preschool

Duggar Family Outed For Child Endangerment And Maltreatment

 Did Michelle and Jim Bob know they were breaking the law? 

Evidence of Duggar family child endangerment, maltreatment, and abuse surfaces as a civil suit is planned by Josh Duggar’s molestation victim. On the heels of a possible lawsuit, the living conditions inside the Duggar family home may implicate parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, who could also be named in the suit.

When news broke last month by In Touch magazine that attorneys representing a non-family victim are preparing a lawsuit, evidence supports that the Duggar family fortune may be at stake. The young woman was a minor when she visited the Duggar family home, where she allegedly endured sexual contact by forcible compulsion at the hands of Josh Duggar.

The actions and inactions of the parents in the years 2002 and 2003 will be scrutinized and witnesses will be required to testify. Much can be made of the environment in which they raised their children at the time.
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The Duggar family moved into the home in March, 1993. At that time there were five children sharing two bedrooms. When the Discovery Health Channel began to film reality TV documentaries about the family, there were 14 children in the Johnson Street home and their mother Michelle was pregnant. This coincides with the years 2002 and 2003, which is the time of the known sexual molestation, according to the police reports. The family remained in the Johnson Street home, with cameras still rolling, throughout 2004, the year the first hour-long TV special aired.

A series of three shows were filmed by the network which documented the family’s living conditions: 14 Children and Pregnant Again!, Raising 16 Children, and 16 Children and Moving In. The main stage for the three scripted reality shows was the Johnson Road house of horrors, where 16 to 18 people lived in a 2,400-square-foot home built for a family of four to six.

,,,
"Absolutely, they did. Both were licensed real estate agents and Jim Bob was a fourth-generation real estate professional. Understanding occupancy laws is necessary to pass the examination to become an Arkansas real estate agent."
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Another reason might be that if the authorities were involved, he and Michelle would lose the right to homeschool their children if Josh remained living in the household. Jim Bob should have known about that law; he was one of its sponsors and helped to get the bill passed in 2001 as an Arkansas State Representative.

Duggar Family Outed For Child Endangerment And Maltreatment

Mom Punishes Son By Dressing Him Up In Drag And Posting Pics On Facebook - Crime Feed

I'm not sure what is worse, the actions of the adults involved or some of the comments that followed: " Are you kidding me. What a waste of money to spend putting these people in jail,,, neither of these people needs to be in jail,,, [a]re you kidding me a felony. Wow really the state really need to stay out of people business."

A Florida mom and her roommate are facing child cruelty charges after forcing her 10-year-old son to dress up like a girl and then posting pictures of the humiliation on Facebook.

Authorities learned about the incident after relatives of Christle Prado saw the photos online and noticed the young boy was visibly upset while dressed in drag.

Prado claims Driscoll, who also happens to be her landlord, came up with the idea as a way to punish the child for bad behavior and she went along with it for fear of compromising her living situation.

Mom Punishes Son By Dressing Him Up In Drag And Posting Pics On Facebook - Crime Feed

Mother Accused Of Scalding Toddler With Boiling Water, Pouring Bleach In Her Eyes

A Missouri mother and grandmother are both in jail on charges of child abuse after a toddler was found badly burned.

Katie Grimes, 25, was arrested last Saturday after hospital staff and police found a two-year-old toddler suffering from burns on twelve percent of her body, including her face and back. The child's eyes were also swollen shut from contact with hot bleach.

Court documents obtained by The Huffington Post detail the alleged abuse, and how both she and the suspect's mother, 51-year-old Karen Wynn, allegedly attempted to lie to authorities. The details may be disturbing to some.

Mother Accused Of Scalding Toddler With Boiling Water, Pouring Bleach In Her Eyes

786 Abused Kids Died In Plain View Of Authorities: Report

"We all agree that we cannot solve a problem this complex until we agree it exists."

David Sanders, Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities

At least 786 children died of abuse or neglect in the U.S. in a six-year span in plain view of child protection authorities — many of them beaten, starved or left alone to drown while agencies had good reason to know they were in danger, The Associated Press has found.

To determine that number, the AP canvassed the 50 states, the District of Columbia and branches of the military — circumventing a system that does a terrible job of accounting for child deaths. Many states struggled to provide numbers. Secrecy often prevailed.

Most of the 786 children whose cases were compiled by the AP were under the age of 4. They lost their lives even as authorities were investigating their families or providing some form of protective services because of previous instances of neglect or violence or other troubles in the home.

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Many factors can contribute to the abuse dilemma nationwide: The child protective services system is plagued with worker shortages and a serious overload of cases. Budgets are tight, and nearly 40 percent of the 3 million child abuse and neglect complaints made annually to child protective services hotlines are "screened out" and never investigated.

Also, insufficient training for those who answer child abuse hotlines leads to reports being misclassified, sometimes with deadly consequences; a lack of a comprehensive national child welfare database allows some abusers to avoid detection by moving to different states; and a policy that promotes keeping families intact can play a major role in the number of deaths.

Because no single, complete set of data exists for the deaths of children who already were being overseen by child welfare caseworkers, the information compiled over the course of AP's eight-month investigation represents the most comprehensive statistics publicly available.

786 Abused Kids Died In Plain View Of Authorities: Report

Vegan mom arrested over unhealthy newborn fights for baby’s... | www.wftv.com w/ Update

There is a very fine line when the lives of children are put in jeopardy. It is why the legal debacle surrounding Makayla Sault is so hard to swallow. That issue, in the end comes down to the sovereignty of First Nation people. But if an adult wants to follow a particular religion, have a fondness for woo, or ignore normal medical care, that’s their decision. Once it begins to influence others – especially helpless infants – I would argue that’s where it is not just their decision.

A new mother is fighting for custody of her son, who she hasn't been alone with since he was 12 days old, because of her vegan beliefs.

Sarah Markham's baby was taken from her because she opted not to take him to the hospital when he was losing weight.

Instead, she told investigators she wanted to try feeding him vegan formula.

Now she's fighting to get him back while she faces criminal charges.

“They've kept a child away from mom,” said attorney Mark O’Mara. “My client can only see her child once a week or twice a week because they're requiring the child be out of county.”

Sarah Markham was arrested in June when her son was less than two weeks old. He had lost 10 percent of his body weight.

But instead of taking the boy to the hospital under doctors' orders, Markham wanted to try supplementing breast milk with vegan formula.

Markham is a Seventh-day Adventist, according to an arrest report, and holistic healing is in line with her beliefs.

Vegan mom arrested over unhealthy newborn fights for baby’s... | www.wftv.com

UPDATE::Vegan mom gets back custody of baby, still facing criminal charges

A mother accused of refusing to feed her underweight newborn formula was given back custody of her baby on Wednesday.

Sarah Markham was arrested in August on child neglect charges because she didn't want to feed the baby the formula the doctor gave her, citing her vegan beliefs, according to authorities.

Markham said the formula the doctor recommended to her had animal byproducts and wanted a vegan option.

Mom, Grandparents, Nearly Starved Boy To Death: Cops

"The most important medicine used to treat him at the hospital was food. He was within a month of having a major cardiac event that he probably would not have recovered from," said Dr. Jennifer Wolford of UPMC Children's Hospital Child Advocacy Center.

"It is impossible to me that this severe neglect and active abuse was not visible. He was being starved in his own home around others of normal weight," she stated.

The boy's two sisters, ages 4 and 11, appeared healthy, while a 9-year-old brother was underweight but not as severely as the 7-year-old.

According to police, Rader decided to homeschool the 7-year-old last year, and he was not allowed outside the house except to the back porch, where he would sometimes eat the bugs he caught. He was fed small amounts of tuna and eggs and suffered beatings with a belt - particularly when he sneaked food, usually peanut butter and bread, police said.

He was forced to take ice-cold showers as punishment - the only showers he was allowed - and had two abscessed teeth that had to be removed, police said.

Mom, Grandparents, Nearly Starved Boy To Death: Cops